Hi. I have a 6 year old leopard tortoise named Frankie. I joined this forum after I got him and it's been amazing! Well, now I have a sulcata. He was found by some locals and they tried to find his home, but eventually needed to find a home for him so they came to me because we have land and they knew I had Frankie and that I would make a good home for him. So, needless to say, I don't know his age. He seems to be 60-70 pounds and in good health. We have named him Sully. When we first took him in, we kept him in an old dog pen approximately 8x8 until we could figure out what to do with him. We let him out for several hours a day into our fenced in yard and he had as much space as he wanted to roam and eat grass and weeds. We would put him back in the pen at night to keep him safe. In the pen, we had a kiddy pool that we turned upside down and crushed and put water in it so he could easily get in and out. We know he went in it daily because we found urates (creamy like toothpaste and not crystalized or hard) in the water. He seemed to be happy and thriving. We didn't like the pen situation, obviously, and knew it was only temporary. We have several large paddocks and one leads into our barn. We took him out to the paddock, and he was able to safely stay out there and eat grass and weeds as long as he wanted. We would take him into the barn at night to sleep and stay safe. After a couple days, he started going into the barn around 6-7pm by himself and hunkering down in there for the night. He seemed very happy and enjoyed wandering around the large paddock and grazing on grass/weeds. We live in central Florida and the weather would allow us time to build him a heated night house before it starts getting cold. Well, hurricanes Helene and then Milton came and the nights got down into the 60's. We covered him with hay in the barn and he was sleeping on horse mats so it didn't seem like he was too cold. It gets back in the mid 80's during the day. Anyway, to make a long story short (sorry) he has not come out of the barn on his own for the last week or so. I bought a tobaggan so I could put him on it and "slide" him out of the barn into the paddock so he could get sun and food. Once out there, he will roam and eat and then put himself back to bed around 5pm. The kiddy pool is out there, but now he finds no interest in that any longer. He is pooping -- although it's not as soft as it once was. He is peeing with urates -- still creamy but a little thicker than before. I'm guessing the cold spell we had at night did not sit well with him. He does not have a runny nose or sound congested. He is eating -- when pulled out of the barn to do so. I think if I didn't do it, he would stay in the barn. We are building his night house this weekend and I have the Kane mat and attempting to order a RHP or get a chicken brooder from TSC. Does anyone know why he's no longer getting into the pool or freely coming out of the barn to graze? The pool is in the sun, so the water is warm. He also has several low bowls out there that he can drink from. When do I start to worry about dehydration? On a separate note, Frankie has been doing the exact same thing since the hurricanes. He would stay in his house if I didn't bring him out. I can easily soak him as he is only 25 pounds or so and can't get out of the container. But he's not eating much at all and isn't very social. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what is happening? I know Sully was not as warm as what was needed in the evenings, but it was only for a short time that it was like that. The barn stays pretty warm so I know it wasn't as cold as the outside air. BTW, Frankie and Sully live nowhere near each other. We live on 5 acres and they are each at separate ends of the property. Oh, I bought another kiddy pool and filled it with water and picked him up (ugh!) and put him in it. He kept trying to get out and I kept holding him in it. He seemed very unhappy with that situation. Do I keep doing that? Thank you for any assistance.
